Firsts

Last week through yesterday morning, my sister and nephew, Damion, came to lovely Washington to visit. It was so great spending the week with him and watching him interact with Madelynne. He is such a big helper and never ceased to entertain us the entire time he was here.

Because he doesn’t remember seeing the ocean when he came to visit us in Florida back in 2007, as he was only 6 months old or so, it was a week of “firsts” for him. He enjoyed his first plane ride to Seattle and made sure everyone knew all about it, who he was visiting, and how excited he was. When the plane began to decent through some cloud cover, he got a bit nervous and said, “oh no, this is not good. Mom, I don’t think the pilot can see.” But Lindsey reassured him all was fine.

His first “ocean” experience was at what I call “the mini ocean”, which is the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and one of my favorite places to just relax at, which is Salt Creek/Crescent Beach. I sure do love the serenity of being there. We went out when it was low tide and enjoyed some time playing in the surf, looking for sea life, and playing in the sand. Damion did see a few small crabs and endured the cold water that is the Pacific.

Building sandcastles

Walking with his mom

Jumping in the surf

His first “marine life” experience was searching for starfish down at the city pier. We spotted several along the rocks and pier bearings, and were lucky enough to find one washed on shore at Ruby Beach, which we relocated to the ocean. He even saw anemones at low tide and several seals playing and feeding along the surf at both La Push and Ruby Beach.

Walking along Ruby Beach

Buried in the sand

Saving a Starfish

Sand Castle

Looking for starfish

Such a ham

Those black spots are seals-La Push

He also built his first sand castle and got buried in the sand, too, which he thought was just plain fun, even though we kept telling him to not breathe, as he kept messing up our burying job. He retorted with, “if I don’t breathe, then I will die.” Geesh, we know. He found a freezer bag full of seashells that we had collected along the coast.

He experienced his first time on a farm, when we visisted Jardin du Soleil Lavender Farm, in Sequim. He got to cut his own bunch of lavender, which we gratefully took home. Our house, and my car, smelled awesome.

Rows of Lavender

Cutting a bunch

Dangling from a tree

He experienced his first boat ride, when we took the ferry to Seattle and then in the Harbor Cruise. He liked the ferry, but the cruise was a little mundane and seeing the city skyline was a bit “boring” for him.

On the ferry 

On the harbor cruise

Story time

Making an owl puppet

He went to story time at the library, where they talked about owls, and he enjoyed this "first time at your library". He also noted that it was his "first time going to a store in Washington", when we went grocery shopping at Safeway.

He also experienced his first bowling trip, which he won, beating both his mom and I. I think the lane was shifted weird, because all of my attempts to get the ball down the lane ended up only going to the right side. He had the advantage with the bumpers. Just sayin’.

1st time bowling

Game night crew

See his scores!

Afterward, getting pizza

Saturday night Damion, Uncle Brad, and the dogs camped out in the backyard, and picked cherries to add to Brad’s current fermenting home brew. The dogs loved spending time with Damion. D wore them out with countless imaginary games he created, which was good, because they definitely do not get as much attention from us as they should.

Getting cherries

Boys only camp out!

Needless to say, a very exciting week for Damion, which he gets to share with his new friends when he starts kindergarten in a few weeks